Take Me As I Am: A Joni Mitchell Tribute

Rainee Blake's portrayal of Joni Mitchell was amazing in its authenticity and offered a quiet respite from the craziness that is Fringe. It was like stepping back in time, entering a small club on the Sunset Strip below Laurel Canyon where Joni called home. A totally relaxing way to enjoy a drink and experience what the folk singers of the 60s were really like. ... full review

This performance blew me away. Though set in 1976, Rainee Blake’s tribute to Joni Mitchell is timeless. With an elegantly simple staging and costumed in perfectly rendered blonde hair and a beautiful long blue velvet dress, Blake’s show doesn’t depend on in your face ’70s nostalgia. As a result, nothing distracts from the music, the songwriting, and all of the emotions within. This is not a biographical show where we learn all the details of Mitchell’s life and career, though, through sweetly brief story vignettes (done so well as to seem like mere spontaneous vamping while tuning up her next instrument), we do get an impressionistic view of Mitchell's personal life and musical associations and friendships. But it’s quickly back to another ... full review

An amazing performance! I loooooved the show!... full review

There is a reason this show swept the Fringe awards and it deserves every award and accolade it's won. Rainee Blake's portrayal of icon Joni Mitchell is spot on - note perfect from start to finish. I saw Joni Mitchell live when I was a kid, my cool Uncle took me to the show, I think I was 15. It was 1975 and I remember it all. I teared up a few times because when I closed my eyes, I was back there again listening to her doing the songs, the tuning, the stage banter, all of it. Thank you for reminding me why we love Joni Mitchell and in turn love your performance of her. ... full review

Magical evening with Joni Mitchell! Beautiful evening by Rainee Blake. ... full review

Ever experienced the best toast of your life that is just the right about of golden brown, not burnt at all, has the right amount of crisp and is obviously your favorite bread on the planet? Got the visual image? Good. Now, if you add the best butter in the world to that bread... you'd be pretty darn happy, right? Well, imagine that for you, butter isn't quite enough to add... you need a little something extra, so you go all out and put that jelly or jam on there that was made at a state fair (cuz they have the best jam or jelly on the planet). Now and only now can you eat that toast. And even with this description, it doesn't do justice to the fine "piece of toast" performance that I was treated to last night. It was, by far, the m... full review

Astonishing--a revelation. I've heard cover bands, who reinterpret songs in their own style. And I've heard tribute bands, who create faithful, frozen-in-amber reproductions of the originals. But this performance was something else--something akin to sorcery, as if we'd stumbled into a portal and wound up in a New York coffeehouse in the fall of 1969, and discovered a fresh, live, unrecorded performance from Joni herself. I saw Joni Mitchell in concert in Boston many years ago. Thank you for bringing this show to the Fringe. ... full review

I was blown away, such an amazing talent!... full review

This ticket was a last minute afterthought because I was going to be in the neighborhood with time on my hands...I did not expect this would be my favorite Fringe show of 2023! But WOW!!!!! So glad I caught this one. ... full review

Great music choices and performance! The way she embodied Joni was incredible. My wife and I spent our 1 year anniversary seeing this before dinner and had a great date to remember!!... full review